CAPTCHA is an acronym for 'Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart'. The technology was developed more than two decades ago for interactive websites to fight bot-driven attacks. Over the years, it has steadily lost ground to the opponent, as it failed to keep pace with the evolution in bot technology. Instead of obstructing bots, it adds friction and adversely impacts good user throughput.
Although CAPTCHAs went through several iterations – such as reCAPTCHA and its multiple versions – they fall way short of the level of protection that today’s digital businesses need against an adversary that is technically much superior. Today, bots have reached advancement levels so high they can mimic human behavior with fairly high accuracy. It has become easy for fraudsters to bypass the reCAPTCHA enterprise – and its multiple versions – at scale using bots or low-cost human click farms.
Need for an Effective reCAPTCHA Alternative
Digital businesses can no longer rely on this obsolete technology for bot detection because in addition to financial losses they risk upending user experience, damage to brand equity, and customer churn. They need alternate solutions that are developed by deep investments in technology and can adapt to the advancing capabilities of bots and their attack tactics for long-term protection.
Here we list the top five considerations when looking for reCAPTCHA alternatives to get the best protection without disrupting user experience.
- Data-backed decisioning: AI-driven decisioning not only helps eliminate guesswork but also adapts to the evolving attacks, thereby determining the best response strategy for an attack signature. Since machine learning-based models can dynamically adapt to the changing fraud tactics and decide the best response strategy based on the risk level, it eliminates the need for manual adjustments of risk scores. Furthermore, real-time insights and data exchange can help power intelligent and transparent decisions, with the added benefit of flexibility of controlling the enforcement pressure.
- User-centric protection: For digital businesses today, user experience is front and center and there is no room for a trade-off between fraud prevention and user-centricity. Therefore, a no-block approach where good users are never blocked is the way forward. This will have an immediate impact on false-positive rates, without compromising security.
- Compliant and accessible: In addition to complying with the GDPR that mandates businesses to protect the privacy of consumer data, digital businesses must also comply with the laws of the land where they operate. Solutions that are accessible to a wide range of demographics across locations of operation, while remaining compliant to multiple regulations, are the ones that digital businesses should opt for.
- Ease of use: Multiple tech stacks that operate in silos only add to technical debt and information overload. This can cause delay in decisioning, providing fraudsters with the much-needed time to attack and escape. Opt for a solution that can fit in with any existing infrastructure. Today, data APIs allow seamless integration with on-premises or third-party solutions that can be set up in a matter of hours.
- Customer support: A security vendor that backs up the solution with 24/7 available SOC experts can empower fraud teams by offloading their burden and working as a true partner.
Fighting bots does not always need to be a losing battle. As a true partner, Arkose Labs enables digital businesses to face – and defeat – complex bots, as well as human-driven attacks, thereby protecting them long-term.
Bankrupt the Business Model of Fraud with Targeted Friction
Our zero-tolerance to fraud approach enables businesses to deter fraud – that goes beyond just remediation. The use of targeted friction causes bots and scripts to fail instantly, regardless of how advanced their capabilities may be. Real-time risk assessment of every incoming user informs the enforcement mechanism to present appropriate 3D puzzles, which engages malicious human actors in a manner that wastes their time, effort, and resources. This erodes the returns from an attack to such an extent that the attack loses its economic worth and the attacker is forced to abandon it.
In addition to meeting the five aforementioned crucial considerations of an efficient reCAPTCHA alternative, Arkose Labs provides its partners with the benefit of managed services and a guaranteed mitigation SLA. Arkose Labs is the only security vendor that backs its solution up with an industry-first $1M warranty.
Learn more about complex bot-attacks across industries and how to detect and remediate them here.
Arkose Bot Manager
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